Post-Graduation, New Beginnings

I’m overdue for a post here, things have been happening so fast.

 

I’ll be sure to write up a post soon full of reflections, apprehensions, fears, and all the excitement that comes with this post-college, new employment time. 

Square-Enix of America President and CEO Mike Fischer Resigns – IGN

Thanks SSB for this ! Love you guys! Not sure how I feel about this piece of news though!

SSB

Square-Enix of America President and CEO Mike Fischer Resigns – IGN.

Is it early enough for me to do my obituary on Squaresoft?  Is it?

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It’s been quite awhile. I’m still alive, and graduating!

Oh man, it feels good to have some time to write again. My life has been a constant whirlwind of emotions, twists, and turns in the past few months. I’m so ready to get back into the groove again. Which reminds me, I’ve been meaning to write about this thought that’s been bothering me for the longest time.

While most of the guests I get at the hotel are a mixture of indifferent businessmen, demanding wannabe-divas, and illogical penny pinchers, every now and then I get someone who wants to have a real conversation. Most of these kinds of people come by the front desk to spark up a conversation because they are living such a lonely life, and I can see that clearly through their diamond status “Up in the Air” kind of hotel history in their profiles. Well, he asked me what my passions were, and when I told him I clearly was a film student and I am passionate about all kinds of art, he asked me “Which one?” In which I replied, “Well, writing.” He quickly empathized and asked if I kept journals. Of course I do, I have many, for different reasons, I do enjoy the pen-to-paper sensation of writing as well. He smiled and asked me, “Well then tell me this, do you have a blog?” Since I do, I admitted it to him, and he claimed that because of that mere reason, I was not an honest writer, and to put it bluntly, I was enraged.

With the rapid pace of the changing times, why is that we all have to be incredibly incessant hipsters about the creative process? I’m sure that years after Aristotle had someone scribe his plays, someone claimed that the next method of recording stories was “dishonest,” as well. I am on both ends of the spectrum in this sense. I do, feel a different sense of satisfaction when I write things down using my pen or pencil. However, when I sit at my laptop, or iPad, or desktop, or even phone, and feel something extraordinary, I will not cease to essentially type it down as well. In addition to this, probably due to my constant multitasking and anxiety-prone brain, my thoughts move at an unreasonably high speed. In order to keep with this rapid moving thought process, I type. This way, I can keep up with and develop my thoughts much better. 

The days I like to write in my journals are days where I have time to lounge and be slow. Those aren’t very often, but when they do come around I make a point of it to slowly write things down, in a more intimate experience. On those days, my mind and body are both moving at a slow pace, so it allows me to enjoy my writing a little more.

However, I don’t believe for any second that either way overrides the other in the quality of creativity or coherence of story. 

So, as you could probably imagine, he walked away speechless after I delivered this monologue.

 

On a much lighter note, I’ve been making it a point to utilize the hours before my work to get outside and run lately. So much running I even got sick because of it, but that’s passed now. I absolutely love Coronado, and I could stay under the sun there for days. I’ve also been trying to treat my little sister a little more since I’m not home as much as I’d like to be.

It was her birthday, so naturally, I spoiled her as a big sister should!

We also got to go running with mom along Glorietta Bay too!

 

I just love my city, most of the time. Minus the expensive cost of living of course!

But, as I am graduating, I have been thinking a lot about how my life will be changing. Not having to go to school, though I know I’ll probably be back many times since the boyfriend and friends still attend, I realize that my life will be very different. I’ve come to cherish the times I have with people around me a little more, which is something I always hated about myself in how I tend to wait til the last minute to fully appreciate these little moments. But it seems everyone loves these moments as well. I love my friends, I really do. 

And the language lab is filled with unnecessary alpaca pictures and group funny faces.

And my sister is pretty excited that people have started to come to the house with burritos and an appetite for games!

I will miss them, but I know I’ll keep seeing them. Just in a different way, in my different world. If anything, I know I’ll have Paul here still.

And he will still need some taking care of 🙂

 

 

 

Dresses, video games, specialty drinks, and college

Lots has been going on lately! I should be updating more. But so much has been going on and so fast, that it’s hard for me to keep up with anything really. College is as busy as ever, with all the preparations for graduation coming along. I’ve been working more often at my … hotel job … and new video games have been coming out trying to take me away from doing schoolwork.

So I’m slowly making payments on paying back the debt I owe from the whole car theft situation. It’s horrible that they make me pay to get my car back out of a compound. But whatever. I was able to use the rest of my money to pay for car maintenance. renew accounts, start up new ones, and finally got my credit card as well. That’s only been paying for gas, since you know, having a good credit score is a necessity in this society.

Recently though, I have a little bit of extra money, so I’m planning on going on a serious dress haul. Soon. Very soon.

I have a lot of dresses, but you know, a girl can never have enough! And I really need to update some of these. Man, I have three pairs of dresses that are exactly the same but just different colors! I also just went on a sephora haul. Planning on uploading those pictures as well!

So Japanese class hasn’t been any easier. It’s weird that I think I perform better in Reading and Comprehension than I do with oral exams, but I end up having a higher grade in the oral class. Go figure. But as of right now, my minor has surpassed my major in overall workloads and I’m a little upset I won’t be able to finish the classes at SDSU before I graduate. Finishing the minor is great, but unfortunately I really would love to at least just finish the fourth year classes. Oh well, it’s not worth going back to school part time and paying $1500, when I could use that money to just … go back to Japan!

I really miss Japan, I miss it all the time. Not just the country, but I think because it was my first real vacation away from everything and just myself. It was just amazing. I guess, I miss Yokohama the most. Cafe Veloce, the Porter Hill, the Brickhouse. Everything about it. But, I do love being home too.

On a lighter note, the family and I have been spending more time together because miraculously my boss at work is giving me some weekend days and nights off (witchcraft, isn’t it?!). I took my sister out for coffee (hot chocolate for her), and we went out for my mom’s birthday!

I love those days because all I have to worry about is having fun. My mom was really happy to finally get some lobster in her stomach, and my sister has started using percentages to divide up the time between me and the family. I also got to make my mom wonderful meals and treats on her birthday! It felt so good to get back in the groove with the kitchen.

I’ve been spending a lot of nights at Paul’s house too. Words cannot describe how much it helps to have someone there to help you stay awake. Paul also makes a mean cup of coffee, so having my own personal barista is also a plus! He’s so wonderful, and so good to me. Our one year anniversary is coming up, and I’ve got to repay him for all he does!

For his constant runs to tapioca express and starbucks attempting to make my day better at work, he is the biggest sweetheart! He stops by so much, the other front desk girls started asking him to pick up stuff for them. Hahahaha, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did it too!

Daddy also got some updated systems … that is dangerous for me! I haven’t graduated yet,  so how in the world can I focus on school now!? Not to mention, I got BioShock Infinite and it feels just about impossible to do anything else.

And this Wii U seems to attract people to my house!

As a way to start off my Spring Break, the gang and I took a lunch at Raki Raki, a new ramen place that opened up on Convoy. They came out with wine bottles filled with water, and the lunch specials were insane. Really great food, I’d have to say it’s one of the best ramen places I’ve been to in San Diego!

With graduation approaching, and a boyfriend who’s got one year left in him, I’ve gotta think of creative ways to keep our heads up!

Just keep believing!

Short Hiatus & The rest of Japan

I have been on a hiatus or about a month. Not only from blogging, but from a lot of other things. You know, my Japan trip was probably the most amazing experience of my life, and coming home to all the responsibilities is catching up to me, and it slowly did for the past month. I haven’t updated much because of that, but things are starting to get back in the groove, so here we go again!

Let me start this blog off explaining the rest of my Japan trip (so late, but I need to at least tell everyone how I ended it), and then I’ll get into what I’ve been doing lately. It’s been eventful, but also liberating as well. I’m excited to write about it whether or not anyone reads it.

Japan

Okay, so I left off after we went to Tokorozawa Aviation Museum.

We went to the Fuji Television Station!
Television stations in Japan are a lot different than ours. They make them all like a museum, and a lot of the more popular ones will be constantly changing inside. The celebrities and everyone on television are still present there and are doing things within the station, but fans can come and have a look around, or buy things as well!

Yeah I pretty much freaked at all the Arashi stuff. Sometimes, we have to let out our inner fangirls, don’t we?!

We then head over to the Gundam Front and the Gundam Cafe in Odaiba 🙂

How appropriately perfect for Paul and I! Geeking out with big robots and coffee. I think that sounds like the couple we are.

We finally met up with some friends that night and head over to Shibuya and Akihabara. The place we ate at was literally called “Big Chef,” but it was soooo good. Afterwards we geeked out more at Akihabara and even to took purikura pictures! We actually ended up doing those twice, but for some reason I can’t find those pictures. Here’s how the Tokyo trip went.

Shibuya is so fun. The hustle and bustle of crazy city life was also great to experience, but I think I still prefer Yokohama over Tokyo. The arcades in Akihabara are a nerd’s dream .. and so therefore, I loved it, haha!

The rest of the trip was meeting up with friends again, and exploring new parts of the neighboring cities. We also went to my old town where I lived when I was young. One of the navy bases is there in Yokosuka. That was interesting too, since it became very obvious when we were getting near Americans. Haha, I was experiencing a backwards culture shock!

We went eating at an all you can eat Shabu Shabu place in Kabukichou in Shinjuku. We went to a belt sushi restaurant in Yokosuka. We walked around places I haven’t been since I was too little to talk. Our friend, Eri, made us such good Okonimyaki. I even took a trip to Freshnessburger, a place that makes some of the best burgers I’ve ever had … and it’s NOT in America. Haha!

Paul and I found our absolute favorite cafe while we were there. It was located in Yokohama, but it looks very fancy from the outside. I really was impressed by the decor and the quality of customer service there. Not only was the experience great, but the cheesecake was by the far the best dessert I’ve had in Japan, and their lattes were amazing. They were so much cheaper than the other places we had gone to and totally surprised me with that as well.

Cafe Veloce!

Paul also tried so hard to make sure he gave me one last date in Japan. It was pretty funny because by the time we were ready to go on the date, most of the places he had planned out were closed. The big ferris wheel in Minato MIrai was closed, Landmark Tower’s elevator was closed, even our cafe was closed. In one fell swoop, he had an idea for us to go ice skating! It was so beautiful because it was at the Yokohama “Art Rink,” which I absolutely adored. The only setback was that since my feet are pretty big, my feet dont fit the “women’s sized” ice skates, I was supposed to go over to the men’s sizes. I was too embarassed, and just squeezed into some that were too small. I must say, I am STILL paying for it with a toe that is basically blue and I’m waiting for it to fall off. But you know what? The romance and fun I had that night was totally worth it. Thanks to my Paullie!

 

Then came the day we were to leave. Paul and I decided to take the late train to the airport and to experience as much as we could in the little time we had left! We had done so much in just two weeks, we wanted this last day to end with a bang.

…And it sure did. We took the elevator to the top of Landmark Tower (which is the fastest elevator in the world, we got there in 11 seconds!), ate a Teriyaki Burger at the Japanese McDonalds, and said our goodbyes to Japan while we stared out the panoramic windows with Tiramisu lattes.

Now that’s a way to go!

We absolutely adored Yokohama. We are definitely coming back.

This tops anything I could possible imagine! Lattes on the 69th floor. This is the dream!

 

And then .. went went back to America.

We knew that we were walking away from one of the most amazing trips and experiences we’ll ever have in our entire lives! It was nice being able to communicate and read almost all the signs, too. Good thing we prepared ourselves! This really made us into more well rounded adults, and we cherish these two weeks everyday we live now!

Until next time, Nihon! We love you~!

 

 

Japan Trip (Days 4-6)

After the long, long, long night of New Year’s, we took a day off to sleep in until about 4pm. We basically just rolled around the room for a good two hours after that watching Japanese TV, taking long showers, and enjoying a nice conbini breakfast. We went out at night just to take a nice afternoon walk at World Porters. Other than that, we just walked around Yokohama a lot that day as well. It was a nice quiet night compared to the previous one. But when the next day came around, we were ready to get back on the road towards Negishi! 🙂

Day 5 – Negishi & Sankeien

Negishi is a small little town nearby Kamakura and Yokohama. It’s a really nice place that has suburban homes, higher end homes, and Japanese-style homes. The one thing I did notice about this beautiful place was the amount of parks! There were playgrounds and parks everywhere!

It was such a nice day to take a walk together.

We ended up walking like 2 miles away towards the Sankeien garden (which is a Japanese-style garden) which could put San Diego’s Japanese Friendship Garden to shame! It was enormous!

we actually went all the way up to the observatory after exploring this area 🙂

When we got back down we found an old house that used to be home to some royal family 🙂

It was so interesting, and we had to take our shoes off and everything! It was very intricately built too.

After this, we ended watching a beautiful park 🙂

When we got back to Yokohama, we tried to hit up some more cafes. We found one that was all American diner themed, which was good but surprisingly pretty pricey considering the fact it looked like a run down American diner!

Even though it was a little pricey, it was still worth it 🙂

Day 6 – Tokorazawa Aviation Museum (Saitama)

So for Paul’s Christmas Present, I promised to surprise him with a trip to an Air and Space museum somewhere in Japan. I picked the Tokorazawa Aviation Museum because it stands in Japan’s first airfield ever built. It’s also next to a stop that’s literally translated into “airport  park.” That was when Paul realized it was going to be cool for him. I totally loved watching him go nuts over all the different airplane and space stuff. The park even had a little statue in the front for aviation enthusiasts. He just fell in love! 🙂

And then the coolest part, which made Paul go nuts was …

He hates this picture but he looks so adorable because you can tell how excited he was ^^ I feel like a good girlfriend.

After this, we decided to go to a place that all the sailors talk about. Coco’s Curry.

…OH MY GOD, it was amazing, especially if you love curry as much as we do. 🙂

Yupp .. all gone :3 …

What a great day! I’m so happy Paul loved my Christmas Present ^^

More blogs on the way~! 🙂

Japan Trip (New Year’s Eve!)

Talk about a big jump! Spending New Years Eve at home is great. Nothing beats spending time with family and bringing in the new year with people you love. This time around, I was in another country, with friends and my wonderful boyfriend, bringing in the new year about 16-17 hours ahead of my own family! Talk about unforgettable.

We started off the day very early, getting on the train to a nearby city to Yokkohama called Kamakura. Kamakura is like a “city stuck in time” in some sorts of the phrase. A lot of the neighborhoods are suburban, but they still resemble old style Japanese homes. Let me just say, there are a LOT of temples around there.

You can tell Paul is excited to go … just not very happy to wake up so early. Hahahaha.

As we walked the streets, it was easy to see the Western influences, but also the preservation of Japanese styles homes and shops.

There was an old fujicolor store which was pretty cool! They had old film and old style cameras for sale. :3

As we got closer to the entrance of the Daibutsu Buddha, we saw some shops to purchase some souvenirs!

These kinds of shops are everywhere in Japan. They are really cool, and have lots of little gifts that are hard to find otherwise.

Each of these little things play a different song which is written on the little gold tag. This store was a specialty store of all things orgel.

Totoro!

Music boxes that play Arashi … :3!

After purchasing a few cute items, we went in and it was really a sight to see. Paul told me he had visited this place last time and made sure that I got to see it myself!

Our … little … tripod … and old Polaroid … HAHA!

What a great sight to see before the new year! 🙂

They actually had a small entryway inside. Paul was too tall to fit! HAHA!

Incense burning outside … you were supposed let the incense smell cover you.

After Daibutsu, we needed some snacks so …

DANGO !!!!! It was so delicious 🙂

Time to get up the mountain a bit and climb up to the other temples 🙂

We wrote our names on the cups in Katakana … and they were included in the circle, it was meant to be lit up at night for the New Year 🙂

It was so beautiful!

Biiiig feet!

There was also a place to wash your hands in the holy water.

My big uggs … it was very cold, hahaha.

Time to get up the steps … Paul is unpleased!

Halfway through the steps was a really nice restaurant 🙂

These little stone statues were so cute. Little boys were taking pictures with it all day, and Paul waited in line, HAHA!

Finally when we got to the top, this was the view we were greeted with! 🙂

Only a little bit into the day and we had accomplished so much! Yay for New Years!

Going back down to the bottom, we found this cave that took us through some old style Buddha ritual stuff. It was creepy, but so cool!

After we were done in this part of Kamakura, we ended up having to take the road all the way back down to the train station. But we weren’t ready to go home! We made a stop at Mister Donut ( a must go if you end up in Japan somehow! ) … and we actually find a walkway that led us to a total surprise! 🙂

What’s thisssss….?!

It was so pretty! 🙂

When we got across there were vendors on the street! .. WE LOVE TAKOYAKI!

The streets were bustling!

This was right before the long steps!

And as it got darker, we found a bridge that went to an even smaller area to pray for good luck.

Time to go 🙂 Bye bye Hachimangu~ It’s time for New Year’s Celebrations!

It was so pretty on the way back too 🙂

As soon as we got back on the train, we knocked out! But it wasn’t that long until we got back to our station and started getting ready for the long night ahead. We grabbed some coffee from a vending machine, and headed back to the hostel. Paul took a nap because I had to get dolled up for New Years 🙂 We ended up getting to watch a lot of Kouhaku Uta Gassen before we headed out to Minato Mirai for the countdown!

We are totally guilty of that box of donuts in the corner from Mister Donut .. LOL
Kouhaku was so good this year. I saw Ayumi Hamasaki, Arashi, Ayaka, and of course GOLDEN BONBA!! hahahah, they were really good. So were Funky Monkey Babys 😀

Getting all dolled up for New Years 🙂

It was really packed in the streets of Yokohama ❤ !

Cosmo World was all lit up because the ferris wheel was the clock 🙂

We were ready!

It was so beautiful everywhere we went!

After the New Year came in, we made our way to Asakusa in Tokyo. It was a very interesting train ride. We were packed in their like sardines, but it’s an experience in itself! It took about an hour to get to Tokyo, and once we got off at Ueno station it was about another hour walk to Asakusa (we totally should have taken the subway …)

Once we got there, our friends had already went inside to the big temple, so we decided to just bear the wait and go in and experience our first Hatsumoude (the first temple visit of the new year, it’s a Japanese tradition).

It was packed but there were tons of vendors and lots of things to see. The temple itself looked like it was straight out of a desktop wallpaper!

Once we got in, we ate some food at the vendors, and made our way back to Ueno station. But not without a little confusion. We got lost on the way back just because we were so used to the smaller urban areas and little suburban house areas, I realize that after all the skyscrapers surround you, it’s very easy to get lost in the city. Tokyo was interesting … especially at night when you’re wearing heels! It’s okay though, getting lost is an experience and though we were tired and cold, we were alright. When we finally found a Koban (police station), we asked the policeman where Ueno station was and he directed us in the right way. It was a very very very long walk all the way back because we had gotten ourselves pretty deep into the city. By the time we got back to the train station it was about 5 in the morning, and we got back to Yokohama at about 6am. Once we got in the hostel, we were so tired we just laid on the floor and knocked out. HAHA! What an incredible journey on our New Years out of the country. It was beautiful, crazy, and fun!

Going to start on the next posts now!

Japan Trip (Days 1-2)

Today is my second day back at work, and it just made me realize how much I want to find a different job that encourages creativity. It also made me fully realize that I am officially out of vacation mode, and back from Japan, which I had to say was the most exciting experience of my life!

When Paul and I got to the airport, we were just filled with excitement! We were walking around LAX, a little rushed and sleepy, and frantically finding ways to entertain ourselves. Once we got on the plane, which by the way was a Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 (double-decker .. whaaaaat!), it was pretty much impossible to sleep. The airline was very cool, and very accommodating. The only uncomfortable thing about the flight was that Paul and I were in between two people in a row of four.

I was pretty impressed with their Japanese movie selections. Uchuu Kyoudai, Thermae Romae, Rentaneko, and Rurouni Kenshin were all on there (Sorry, this computer doesn’t have Japanese capabilities so I will update this post later with the correct kanji & kana). They also had a great music selection. Paul and I spent a good amount of time playing multiplayer Tetris though, haha!

Yeah … and then there was the food. Haha, Singapore Airlines sure knows how to make you want to bother other people to get to the bathroom. They served as full course meals and drinks of our choice. As well as snacks and desserts. Though Paul and I didn’t indulge in any alcohol, the option was there, which was pretty cool. The flight to Narita was one of the smoothest flights I’ve ever been on. Despite the fact I was in between people the entire 11 hour flight, we ascended, experienced almost no turbulence, descended, and arrived earlier than schedule without me even knowing it! What a great pilot!

Once we got to the airport, I went through customs and all that good stuff. The customs workers in Japan really are a lot better when it comes to customer service, I must say. Well, really the entire country is better with customer service. Even the camera they used to take a picture of me when I arrived was cute! Paul and I got our bags, exchanged money, got me a super useful Suica card, and purchased our Narita Express ticket to get to Yokohama. Though I understand and speak Japanese fairly well, I was just intimidated the first day I was there, and I let Paul take the lead for me since I didn’t know Narita airport too well. We were done within an hour! These Suica cards were one of the coolest things we bought. It’s basically a card you put money on for the train, and all the turnstiles will just scan when you go through. So useful and I drastically overestimated the costs of trains there too … what a nice surprise for me!

Paul got me a Narita Express ticket which is a special, faster train that has less stops that took me through to Yokohama way faster than a normal train. We arrived to our stop (which is about a five minute walk from our hostel) about two hours after we landed and it was raining. However, once we got in the hostel, we turned up the heater, and knocked out to get some rest for our crazy packed schedule!

Day 1

When we woke up the next day, we decided to take a long morning walk to take in our surroundings, and eat up Japanese morning weather (which was really cold … haha). We went to find a marketplace. Not a convenience store (or conbini), but a real street-food kind of marketplace. We found one about a mile away from our hostel and it was a great way to start off our trip. Because the food was locally made, a lot of it was really cheap and we ended up finding crazy huge pieces of Chicken Katsu for 100 yen each (Psh, that went in breakfast for the next three days!) We also got takoyaki because you know, Paul and I do love takoyaki and kewpie!

Kewpie… 🙂

The top of our hostel had a little garden area with benches you could sit on and hang out. It was really small and pretty. We didn’t spend too much time up there because not everyday was as sunny as the day I took this picture, haha but nonetheless I liked it a lot!

Since we decided to take this whole day and explore other parts of Yokohama, it was only right that we visited China Town! We lived a good five minutes walking distance from Chinatown, and at night, it really shined! It was so exciting, and had such great food!

It was so lively! People trying to sell you stuff left and right, people inviting you into their restaurants, free samples everywhere, it was great. There were lots of pretty light designs everywhere too.

This tree was right outside a playground, and it was the first of many I saw. After this day, I began to realize Japan has a ridiculous amount of playgrounds and places for kids to roam and play freely. That is AWESOME.

Such good AnMan~ !

Though my hair is a mess because of cold, hard winds, and I look like I just got out of bed, I had to take this picture with the China Town Hello Kitty store mascot ^^ … I had to have my fix, you know!

After exploring ChinaTown, we made the journey up some really steep hills to an area with a lot of Western Style houses and buildings. There’s also an International School there. I believe the area was called Porthill, Yokohama. But the Western Houses and School weren’t the most impressive things about being on top of that hill …

The view was amazing! There were people all around the park taking pictures and couples strolling around. Paul admitted he had wanted to take me here for a long time … ii na Po-ru-san 😉

As we walked around this area, we came upon MORE PARKS. There were parks everywhere, but this one in particular was really pretty! We could see Minato Mirai all the way from where we were too.

The entrance was designed like a tunnel, haha.

Because it was dark, walking through was pretty funny.

The crazy view from Yamashita Koen to Minato Mirai!

Really nice. I loved walking around the parks! I could never get tired of it. And luckily, the boyfriend loves it too 🙂

We made our way around near the pier, and there was something to look at on every corner! Walking through Yokohama is like walking through a desktop wallpaper! Everything really is as clean and pretty as it is in pictures!

These light fixtures made their way towards the ocean. We found Osanbashi, which was a really cute place (filled with couples) to walk around especially at night!

With light~

Without light. Either way, it was really pretty. Osanbashi seemed to be a kind of cruise ship that went around the bay many times during the day. There wasn’t anything going on at that hour, so we just helped ourselves and took a look around (everything in Japan seems to be open to the public, haha).

We then ended our night in a more high end shopping plaza, that, though closed, housed many different cafes that were really cute (noted for later)!

Motomachi was definitely really pretty as well. Not much going on at that hour either, especially since it was right before New Years Eve. After New Years, this place was packed!

What an amazing day filled with lights and wonderful views! I was already love with Yokohama after that day. When we got home, we indulged in some ChinaTown and Conbini bought food (which is totally dinner worthy!), and hit the sheets for day 2.

Day 2

Our second day there was another day of Yokohama explorations! Paul and I have a lot of family members and a lot of friends so we needed to scope out some good deals for some cool souvenirs. It was a really rainy day in Yokohama, and we went out thinking it would stop at some point (which it didn’t). Of course, we didn’t bring an umbrella, so we had to get one at a conbini. The first stop of the day was to try out a cafe. The first one we tried was “Fruit and Coffee,” and seriously that is all they sell. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? I imagine it has really good fruit because I didn’t get any, but I got some lattes, and they were good,  but still a little overpriced if you ask me. It looked like a cute little interesting cafe, so we were still happy with it, and of course it was a warm getaway from the cold rain. The cafe was also filled with people smoking, which is okay because we’re used to that in Japan, but it was pretty small so it felt like a hotbox, haha.

This was the view from our seats inside. It was really rainy that day!

Paul was all like “Mm, Nihon Coffee~~~~”

Pretty good Lattes, but at about 600 yen each, I don’t think it was the best.

Our next stop was the Brickhouse, I forgot what it used to be,  but I think it was used during the war or for some kind of military purpose. It’s now turned into a four-story shopping and restaurant facility. It was super cute and nice to walk around and check out some small shops, including some good cafes.

The outside was really creepy looking, but when you got inside, it was full of lights and cute shops!

Blurry, but this was the balcony outside. You could see most of Yokohama from there. It was so beautiful!

Paul being so optimistic despite the rain! He loves Yokohama!

The incredible view from the Brickhouse. It was so foggy, you couldn’t see the top of Landmark Tower. This was such a nice little place to walk around.

We made our way over to World Porters, which is not far from where we were. It’s a huge shopping centers. We also headed over to Minato Mirai area and Landmark Plaza. I swear, if I had no control over money, it would have been totally over.

World Porters has this place called “Leonard’s,” and it had the BEST cream puffs I’ve ever had!

I don’t even remember how many stories this was, but it was pretty amazing!

I love the “express lane,” for Japanese escalators.

And um, this is “food court food?” Maaaaaan, that was good~.

Paul really enjoyed it too … as you can see. Hahaha.

We ended our day a little earlier than usual that day, to go home and get ready for the CRAZY FILLED NEW YEARS. We had so much planned that day, I’ll write about it tomorrow though!

お久しぶり米国！Back in the States :)

While I was in Japan, I stayed in the city of Yokohama. It was beautiful, and absolutely perfect. I visited so many cities in the country, but Yokohama was by far my favorite. It’s a big city, but not as crowded and fast paced as Tokyo. Surprisingly, I learned that it is San Diego’s sister city in Japan. Who would have thought?! 🙂 Anyway, can’t wait to write the Japan Blog~!

The photos are still uploading as I am writing this. I’m going to do a huge blog reflecting back on the trip in detail so stay tuned 🙂